Mounting for roller conveyers



INVENTOR.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ERHARD RUDOLF HENSCHKEE BY WW X A T TnPA/E Y5 E RHENSCHKER MOUNTING FOR ROLLER CONVEYERS Aug. 26, 1952 Filed Nov. 1, 1949INVENTOR. ERHARD RUDOLF HENSCH KER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A 7'795NEY5 E RHENSCHKER MOUNTING FOR ROLLER CONVEYERS Aug. 26, 1952 Flled Nov 1, 19496, 1952 E/R. HENSCHKER MOUNTING FOR ROLLER CONVEYERS s Sheets-Sheet 5Filed Nov. 1, 1949 g a. z I s L E: 1 I I k fiq Hm Q HQ ma D A filillllldM I I l m IIH S a 2 vv .2

VII

a mm E 8 :WN

INVENTOR. ERHARD RUDOLF HENSCHKER A TTOPNEYS Patented Aug. 26, 1952MOUNTING FOR ROLLERCONVEYERS Erhard Rudolf Henschker, Parkstone,England, assignor to The LoewyEngineering Company Limited, London,England, a corporation of Great Britain Application November 1, 1949,Serial No. 124,906

In Great Britain July 8, 1948 6 Claims.

This invention relates to roller conveyors or roller tables of the typeused in rolling mill installations and other metalworking plants fortransporting rolled stock-in the following, briefly called bars, but tobe understood to include rolled stock of any description, 1. e., simpleshapes as well assections, rails, etc.

The means generally employed for this purpose comprise a series ofrollers, driven either in groups from a common motor or individually byseparate motors, and rigidly supported in suitable frames or pedestalswhich rest on the mill floor.

In practice, the rigid mounting of the rollers is not always entirelysatisfactory; the bars, due to uneven cooling or for other reasons, arefrequently delivered from the rolling mills in a de formed condition, sothat they are sometimes bent or twisted in an uneven line. Such bars,when moving along a conveyor consisting of rigidly "-mou'ntedrollers,will by-pass some of the rollers without touching them, thus reducingthe number of points of contact between the bars and the rollers wherethe propelling force can be transmitted to the bars. This has made itnecessary to give individual roller motors more power than would berequired if every single roller could be relied upon to take its fullshare of the load. On the other hand, an increase in power of thedriving motors has the drawback of causing the rollers to spin idlybelow the bars, withoutpropelling them along the conveyor, whenever thecontact pressure between rollers and bars is comparatively small, as inthe case of light bars.

It is an object of the present invention to provide means fortransporting rolled stock, in which these difficulties are overcome.

It is, in particular, an object of the present invention to provide amounting for a roller forming part of a conveyor of the type set forth,which permits the roller to adapt itself automatically to the conditionsprevailing when the bars to be transported are bent or twisted in anuneven line.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a mounting for aroller forming part of a conveyor of the type set forth which limits theload on the driving motor of that roller and thus forms a safeguardagainst overloading.

Another object of the invention i to provide a conveyor of the type setforth, which consists partly of driven rollers and partly of non-drivenrollers.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing someor all of the rollers forming part of a conveyor for transporting rolledstock with flexible or resilient mountings, permitting a rollersupported in this manner to give way under load and adapt its levelrelative to the adjacent rollers in conformity with the outline of therolled stock. These rollers can therefore readily follow any bends ortwists which may occur in the bars which they have to transport. Thus,even a bar which is not straight will not by-pass any of the rollerswithout touching them when travelling along a roller conveyor.

A suitable flexible or resilient support comprises a housing whichcarries the roller and is tiltable about an axis parallel to that of theroller, spring means being interposed between the housing and a pedestalor other stationary elements in which the housing is pivotally mounted,so that the housing, together with the roller, is constantly urgedupwards, whereby contact between a roller and a bar will be maintainedunder all conditions, irrespective of whether the bar is straight ornot.

The present invention, by ensuring effective power-transmitting contactbetween any one driven roller and a bar, irrespective of its shape,makes it possible to restrict the number of driven rollers in a conveyorand replace some of them by idle rollers which act merely asload-carrying elements and therefore do not require a flexible orresilient mounting. If these idle rollers are spaced sufficiently closeto each other that any bar passing along the conveyor will be supportedat any one moment during its travel along the conveyor by at least twoidle rollers, the contact pressure, and thus the friction, between thebar and any driven rollers will be determined solely by the force bywhich the aforesaid spring means will urge those rollers against thebar.

It is a further feature of the invention to make the tension of thesespring means adjustable, so that they can be so set that they willproduce just the friction between the driven rollers and a bar requiredfor advancing the bar along the conveyor. In this way, the spring meanswill act as a load-limiting member for the roller motors and preventthem from being overloaded.

In the accompanying drawings, two embodiments of the invention are shownby way of example with reference to these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of a resiliently mounted conveyorroller with its individual driving motor, the section being taken alongthe line ll of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the roller and its mounting shown inFig. l, the section being taken along the line 2'-2 of Fig. 1.

"Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section showing another mill floor.

ported in a housing II by means of non-friction bearings I2. Roller IDhas a driving connection with motor I3 through a pinion I4 and a pair ofgear wheels I4 and I4" respectively. The housing II has a pair oflateral lugs I5 (Fig.2) forming supports for pivot pin I6. This .latterextends parallel to the axis of the roller II) and serves to hingehousing I I to a pair of stationary elements, such as pedestals II,which rest on the 7 Roller III can therefore be tilted relative to thestationary elements about anaxis parallel to its own.

Spring means are provided to urge housing I I,

' and thereby also roller H], upwards, which means consist-here of aclose-coiled spring I8, housed a separate casing I9, attached to housingII. The spring 18 abuts with one end against a plug 20 threaded intocasing I9 and with its other end against a nut 2I adjustably secured orthreaded to a bo'lt 22 passing through the coils of the, spring IS. Thenut 2i has a spigotted seat in casing +9, on which it is forced down byspring I8. Bolt 22 rests with its end near the 'nut 21 against a face 23of one of the'pedestals 'I'I and has a spherical surface, so that it canswivel about face 23 and keep in contact therewith durin thetiltingofthe housing I-I, while the spring 18 is compressed or relaxed as thecase may be. The other end of the bolt 22 is square-shaped, to

enable the bolt to be turned for adjustment pur- "poses.

Turning a bolt '22 Will vary the position of 'housing 11 relative to thepedestal I1. and thus also the level of the roller I 0 relative to thesadjacent rollers of the conveyor. Turning of the plug 20 willalter theposit-ion of spring I8 and thereby the, contact pressure between theroller randthe load carried "by the same.

In-the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and t2, the

driving motor I3 for the roller II] is flanged to an intermediate casing24, accommodating the :reduction gear between the motor "I3 and rollerIII, the casing 24, extending from the housing I] so that the roller isand its driving means .form

an assembiy'which can tflt bodily about pivot pin .16.

The embodiment of the invention shown .in Figs. 3. and 4 is similar tothat of Figs. 1 and -2 in most respects, the difference being mainly inthe arrangement of the motor I3 and the reduction gear between motor I3and roller II]. The

motor ishere shown as being arranged underneath'the roller if! andsecured by suitable means to the underside of the housing I I. Power istransmitted from the motor I3 to the roller I0 through spiral gears '25,2'5 and 25', :all arranged inside "an. intermediate casing 26 extendingfrom the housing H. Here again, the roller In and its driving means formtogether an assembly which can tilt bodily about the pivot pin IB'.

Inth-e embodiments shown, the spring means provided for urging therollers upwards are arranged at one end of the housing H only. It is to"be understood that similar spring means can 4 also be provided, ifdesired or necessary, at the other end of the roller housing and thatthe spring means can be disposed in any suitable manner other than thatshown in the drawings.

Instead of a close-coiled helical spring, other resilient means may beprovided for exerting an elastic pressure on the roller, and othermodifications in the arrangement and design of the mounting of theconveyor roller may be provided without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In 5, a roller conveyor is shown comprising a number of driven rollersIII which are flexibly or resiliently mounted in accordance with theembodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and which alternate with non-drivenor idle rollers 21, the latter being rigidly supported in open brackets28 extending from pedestals or supports 29.

Travelling along the rollers I0 and 21 is a bar B which is not quitestraight, but has two shallow bends in opposite directions vandwhich.give the bar an uneven outline. Due to the flexible mounting of thedriven rollers II], the bar will be in contact with all the rollers:over which it passes at agiven moment, notwithstanding the "fact thatthe bar has .a double bend, and the propelling force will be transmittedto the bar B wherever the latter passes over a driven rollerzIIl.

It will be seen -from .Fig. 5 that to enable a roller 18 to maintaincontact with the upward bends of a bar, it is necessary for this roller,when under no load, to be held at a level slightly above that of theadjacent .idle rollers 21, the necessary positional adjustment beingeffectedby means of 'the threaded connection between nut 21 and bolt1-22.

When :a straight length of bar passes over a flexibly mounted rollerwhich is :normally somewhat above the level of the adjacent idlerollers. that railer will give Way until it is down to the level of theadjacent-idle rollers. When the bar has downward bends, the flexiblymounted .roller will give way still more, so as to conform with thedepression of the bar. In every one of these "cases, the bar. will besupported at "any one moment of its travel along the conveyor of Fig. 5by atleast two .i'd'le rollers 21, and the contact pressure "between adriven roller II] and the bar will be solely determined by the tensionof the spring 18 which urges the roller upwards. This tension wm be soadjusted that the friction between the :roller I1} and the bar .13 willbe just sufficient to transmit to the bar the force required foradvancing it along the conveyor, :and the spring I8 will thus act as'aload-limiting element for motor I 3.

In the example shown in .Fig. 5, driven rollers alternate withnon-drivenrollers. It is, however, Within the scope of the invention to vary thearrangement of driven and non-driven rollers in one and the sameconveyor; for instance, it is possible to provide only every third or'fourth roller of the conveyor with a drive and flexible mounting if theoperational conditions and the dimensions of the bars permit .it, theremaining rollers being non-driven and having rigid pports.

means being pivotally connected to said support about an axis parallelto the axis of said roller, so that said roller can give way in adownward direction independently of any 0:! the other rollers of theconveyor, driving means on said carrying means connected to said rollerand resilient means connected to said cantilever carrying means on thesame side of the axis of the pivotally mounted carrying means as theaxis of the roller, continuously urging said roller upwards on its pivotagainst the stock to be transported, so that said roller will bepositioned in accordance with stock being conveyed thereby.

2. In a conveyor for transporting rolled stock having a plurality ofrollers, a driven roller for advancing the stock along the conveyor, afixed support for said roller, frame means carrying said roller, saidframe means being pivotally connected to said support about an axisparallel to the axis of said roller so as to enable said roller toassume a position at a level below that of the other rollers of theconveyor, resilient means urging said roller upwards about its pivot andmaintaining close contact between said roller and the stock to betransported, and adjusting means connected to said resilient means foradjusting the force exerted by said resilient means on said roller forlimiting the torque load on said roller.

3. In a conveyor for transporting rolled stock and having a plurality ofrollers, a roller for advancing the stock along the conveyor, a fixedsupport for said roller, a hinged carrier for said roller pivotallyconnected to said support about an axis parallel to the axis of saidroller, so that said carrier, together with said roller, can swingdownwardly and assume a position at a level different from that of theother rollers of the conveyor, resilient means continuously urging saidcarrier and said roller upwards about the pivot of said carrier so as tomaintain close contact between said roller and the stock to betransported, and an adjustable stop element contacted by said resilientmeans and acting between said fixed support and said hinged carrier fordetermining the uppermost position of said carrier and said roller.

4. In a conveyor for transporting rolled stock and having a plurality ofrollers, a roller for advancing the stock along the conveyor, a fixedsupport for said roller, individual driving means for said roller andconnected thereto, a carrier for said roller, means pivotally connectingsaid carrier to said support about an axis parallel to that of saidroller, said driving means being mounted on said carrier so that saidcarrier, together with said roller and driving means, can swingdownwardly and assume a position at a level different from that of theother rollers oi the conveyor, and resilient means continuously urgingsaid carrier and said roller upwards about the pivot of said carrier soas to ensure close contact between the roller and the stock to betransported.

5. A conveyor for transporting rolled stock, comprising rollers foradvancing the stock along the conveyor, fixed supports for said rollers,means rigidly mounting some of said rollers on their respectivesupports, and supporting means for resiliently and pivotally mountingother rollers on their respective supports, so as to permit each of saidresiliently and pivotally mounted rollers to give way in a downwarddirection independently of the other rollers in the conveyor, whileremaining in close contact with the stock to be transported.

6. A conveyor for transporting rolled stock, comprising alternatingdriven and non-driven rollers for advancing the stock along theconveyor, fixed supports for said rollers, the nondriven rollers beingrigidly mounted on said supports, the driven rollers having separateresilient and flexible mountings on said supports so that each of saiddriven rollers can give way in a downward direction and assume aposition at a level different from that of the other rollers of theconveyor, while remaining in close contact with the stock to betransported.

ERHARD RUDOLF HENSCHKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 888,765 Stevens May 26, 19081,650,037 Phillips Nov. 22, 1927 1,743,223 Lowy Jan. 14, 1930 2,129,510Taylor Sept. 6, 1938 2,315,246 Cunning Mar. 30, 1943 2,493,479 EgglestonJan. 3, 1950

